


Face the Lions

by Bestboiuwu



Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types, Tron: Uprising
Genre: The games are, not proofread sorry, traumatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:47:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26720872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bestboiuwu/pseuds/Bestboiuwu
Summary: long after the fall of the Argon rebellion, Beck heads to Tron city on rumors that his mentor may still be alive.Instead, he finds himself in the games, and encounters a no-longer friendly face (or rather, a no-longer friendly dark reflective mask.)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	Face the Lions

Beck does the math; there are going to be guards coming towards him from all sides any second now. If they see his disk, they'll know he's the renegade, all of the time he's spent training with tron; Derezolution was garrunteed. Or worse, repurposing.

If he were just another stray, however; if he were taken to the games he would be given a new disk, the memory loss wouldn't be a problem as long he got the new disk fast enough. He had survived the games before, he could do it again (at least, so he hoped.)

Of course, when they picked a stray, there was just as much a chance of repurposing as being sent to the games, but it was the best chance he had. Plus, fate owed him a lucky roll of the dice.

He took his disk, chucked it as hard as he could so it landed on the roof of some unassuming building, and tried to look as confused as possible. 

* * *

The most upsetting thing about the games is that by now, he's really, really good at them. 

Between having been in them before and having spent cycles training with the best fighter on the grid, his skill level was  _ vastly _ above that of the untrained programs they picked up off the street, and even above that of the highly-trained soldiers they throw in every once in a while to keep things interesting.

He has a lot more trouble with the former than the ladder.

He remembers his first time in the games. He had been younger and the world had been kinder. He had, despite the horror of it all, been able to find friendship, comradery. Mercy had been, (granted, with the interference of the renegade), a luxury he had been able to afford.

That's not the way things are anymore.

He remembers a time where he didn't derezz programs, not even his enemies. This prospect seems laughable, now, as he finds himself forced to kill the innocent daily. He looks at them, the innocent programs, and he sees a younger version of himself. But he can't afford to be as kind, or as brave, as Cutler had been.

He finds himself rising through the ranks rather quickly.

* * *

From the holding cells where they keep them between matches, he can hear the cheering.

Sometimes, he can hear the screams.

After the cycles spent in that cell, he's learned one thing;

He should be very, very scared of the program called Rinzler.

* * *

A point comes where Beck has beaten everything they've thrown at him.

A point comes where Beck has to face off against the final boss.

A platform rises him into the arena. Normally, there are several different battles going on at once. Not this time. These two are the main event.

It's good strategy to know where you're fighting, so Beck immediately turns his attention to taking in the details of the arena. Maybe that's why it takes him so long to notice. Or maybe it's because he hasn't seen him in such a long time. Or maybe he notices right away, and he just doesn't let himself believe it.

Standing across from him is a suit he's seen a dozen times; sure, it wasn't the dramatic white with blazing emblem that he prefered in public, but it was the same suit that he used to wear whenever he and Beck had done reconnaissance together. Same understated lights, symmetrical dots instead of the long, thick lines that were common on most programs. Hell, it was even more blatant than that; it had the one thing his recon outfit didn't.

The "T".

He was wearing his emblem.

Tron was wearing his emblem.

A buzzer goes off, the crowd cheers, and the fight begins. 

"Tron!" Beck blocks a series of attacks. "Tron, it's me!"

In response, he gets a low growl, followed by an attempted disk to the face.

Beck, knowing he has no chance at close range, sets out to put as much distance between himself and tron as possible. 

"C'mon Tron, it's me! We're friends! You have to listen to me!"

Tron (not Tron, Rinzler, as the crowd kept cheering for him as), throws his disk and hits a switch on the opposing wall. The gravity of the stadium flips, and Beck goes crashing to the ceiling.

_ I taught him that trick, _ he thinks.

Tron lands standing above (below? anti gravity is weird) Beck, and tries to slam his disk into him repeatedly, Beck desperately rolling from side to side to dodge the attacks. 

Last time they had fought like this, Tron had handcuffed him to a railing. Beck felt like he probably wouldn't be so kind this time.

"Tron, remember Dyson? Clu? They're the enemy, not me!"

Beck holds up his disk to block one of the attacks, and the recoil from the resulting  _ clank _ partnered with a well-timed kick from Beck gives him just enough time to get Beck to his feet. "The revolution? Argon? Remember what you were fighting for!"

Tron hits the gravity switch again, and gives himself a boost of the ceiling to make sure he hits the ground first. Beck is ready for it this time, and braces himself to land, but-

Tron knocks the panel out from under him right before he can land and it shatters, leaving empty space where Beck had been bracing for. He manages to catch himself, just barely, and finds himself dangling by his fingers. "Tron, please!"

He's met with a disk to his hands, and his fingers dizzolve, and Beck falls.


End file.
